Is Melania Trump an illegal immigrant?

Bombastic billionaire Donald Trump owes much of his nomination as Republican presidential candidate to his inflammatory rhetoric against illegal immigrants.

Yet he may be married to one.

Slovenian-born Melania Knavs Trump is a naturalized citizen and former nude model who came to the United States to pose without her clothing. She arrived in New York in the 1990s (the exact date frequently changes), became a “permanent resident” in 2001 and an American citizen in 2006.

Her path to citizenship, however, is as muddled as most of everything that surrounds her flamboyant husband, the man of many lies, exaggerations and unproven claims.

Mrs. Trump claims she arrived in America in 1996 on a valid visa but photos of her posing nude in New York were taken in 1995. The visa she claimed she had in 1996 did not allow her to be paid for any work. Did she receive money for her modeling? Or did she strip for nothing?

Her response, via Twitter:

In recent days there has been a lot of inaccurate reporting and misinformation concerning my immigration status back in 1996. Let me set the record straight: I have at all time been in full compliance with the immigration laws of this country. Period. Any allegation to the contrary is simply untrue. In July 2006, I proudly became a U.S. citizen. Over the past 20 years, I have been fortunate to live, work and raise a family in this great nation and I share my husband’s love for our country.

In early August, Donald Trump pledged his wife would hold a news conference clarifying just how she managed to get a green card and obtain citizenship. As with so many broken promises by the Republican nominee for President, that press conference did not happen.

Mrs. Trump has been caught in other lies. She claimed, from the stage of the Republican National Convention this summer that she had graduated college in Slovenia. No college there has any record of any degree earned by her. She did attend classes at one but dropped out to head for New York for nude modeling.

She also plagiarized a speech by Michelle Obama. Mrs. Trump claimed she wrote her speech personally.

Mrs. Trump, in interviews earlier this year, claimed she had to return to Slovenia several times to renew her visa to be in the United States. The only visa that would have required that return was one that would not have allowed her to work or collect pay.

A work visa would have allowed her to remain in the U.S. for her employment and would not have required trips back to Slovenia.

David Leopold, an immigration attorney from Cleveland and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told The Washington Post that Mrs. Trump’s citizenship could be revoked if she obtained it illegally. Even her marriage to Donald Trump could not save her citizenship.

To further complicate the matter, Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney who worked for the Trump Organization, told Univision that Melania obtained her green card in 2001 “based on marriage.”

She married Trump in 2005, four years later, and claims he is her first husband.

The question remains: Is Donald Trump, who expresses rabid outrage at illegal immigration, himself married to an illegal?

111 COMMENTS

Trump. why don’t you plan in building a wall surrounding both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, you know for a fact there are plenty of Europeans overstaying in this Country after their tourist visa expires. just an idea!

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